For the treatment of certain diseases or deficiencies, blood components such as red blood cells, platelets, and plasma are needed. According to regulations in nearly all countries, these blood components have to be provided in standard therapeutic quantities and qualities. A standard therapeutic quantity of red blood cells can be prepared from a unit (pint) of whole blood collected from a single donor, whereas to prepare a standard therapeutic quantity of platelets, it is necessary to combine platelets from several discrete whole blood donations. As these platelets originate from different donors, it is a requirement that only platelets from donors whose blood group types are closely matched be mixed.
As an alternative, a cell separation device can be used, which can continuously extract the platelets from the blood of a single donor, who is connected to the machine via a tubing set. From the incoming blood being processed within the machine, the platelets are extracted and collected in a storage container, whereas, typically, the remaining part of the blood is returned to the donor.
Blood banks, the main users of these machines, are under cost pressure and are looking more and more for faster and more efficient ways of producing blood products. This has led to the development of machines that draw the blood with higher and higher flow volumes, which often causes discomfort to the donors and even may exclude donors with limited vein capacity from donating with such devices. On the other hand, blood banks need to increase their pool of donors because of the rising need for blood products, sometimes causing severe blood shortages, especially during the summer-time and holidays.
A solution to these problems would be a significant increase in separation efficiency of the cell-separation machines, especially for platelets, because this would lead to a significant reduction in donation time without the need to exclude traditional donors with limited vein capacity.